Filed under: Sunderland, Football, On The Bench
He may have only just turned 17, but already in his short career, Jordan Pickford has experienced the great highs and lows that invariably accompany the life of a goalkeeper.In the space of a week, Sunderland's promising academy product went from the despair of conceding a late equaliser to his opposite number in the draw with Canada, to the utter high of saving two penalties in a shoot-out victory over Argentina as England made it through to the last eight of the recent under-17 World Cup in Mexico.
First, the low, as he became the first goalkeeper in any Fifa finals competition to concede a goal to a counterpart. Remember the name. It's bound to pop up in a pub quiz somewhere.
With just three minutes to go and England leading their group game 2-1, Pickford misjudged the bounce as an innocuous 65-yard free-kick from Quillan Roberts looped over his head and into an unguarded net. Ouch. "It was a freak and bizarre goal," admitted the England manager, John Peacock.
All that was forgotten, however, as in the wake of a subsequent clean sheet in the victory over Uruguay to clinch passage to the knock-out stages, the Washington-born stopper took centre-stage to ensure a stunning victory over the old enemy.
Even that wasn't without a hiccup or two, as in wet conditions, the Wearsider was at fault for Argentina's goal, before Liverpool prospect Raheem Sterling equalised to force a penalty shoot-out. Pickford more than made amends with saves from Gaspar Iniguez and Augustin Allione to seal the win, 4-2.
As has so often been the case with their senior counterparts, England bowed out to Steffen Freund's Germany in the quarter-finals, a late comeback from Peacock's European Championship semi-finalists failing to repair the damage in a 3-2 scoreline laced with, it must be said, no little Teutonic flamboyance.
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Source: http://www.fanhouse.co.uk/2011/07/16/on-the-bench-with-sunderlands-jordan-pickford-a-keeper-on/
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